


Over Flesh and Fishbones

by LurkingSpork



Series: Verse for Forgiveness [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, F/F, F/M, Illustrated, M/M, Serendipity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-04
Updated: 2015-09-04
Packaged: 2018-04-19 01:02:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4726901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LurkingSpork/pseuds/LurkingSpork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eridan, on his way to a coronation ceremony that would crown him the heir to a legacy, is shipwrecked. Trapped on a miserable spit of land and held captive by a troll arguably no taller than a small, ill designed coat rack, the boy prince must find a way home. Along the way he'll have to deal with a lot sand, a lot of snark, and an infectious disease called troll serendipity. He's pretty sure it's terminal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Over Flesh and Fishbones

________________________________________

________________________________________

Waking to the sounds of wind and wave was nothing new to Eridan Ampora. It happened with such frequency that truly the stranger would be the absence of it. But this was different; not the usual caw and roar heard from atop ship or high tower- this one held the raw edge of comfortable and real reminiscence, soft and safe.

So dazed in the midst of his delirious musings was Eridan that he hadn't quite realized yet the depth and nature of the trouble he was in. In all actuality the troll was waking up stranded and alone from a rather nasty and brutal shipwrecking storm. Soft and safe might've been his friends before but they'd abandoned him at the first sign of trouble, the shitty traitors.

The reality of his situation was at the moment caught captured between half consciousness and a disillusioned squint at the sky. Translated, that meant Eridan was just kind of thinking about how great he was, his defaulted egoism his minds only way of retaining composure. Asleep in a feather bed aboard the Wave Runner, dreaming through his voyage about a promotion from unknown to recognized in excitement. Because he, Eridan Ampora, was of the sea. A boy prince of rich violet, by his blood and the Empress grace he has a place above the rabble. Because on Alternia, where blood is a meter and value is its shade he’s glad to be worth so much. Truly the only troll higher in station than himself is the Empress, mighty in terror and absolute in power.

Eridan knew he should feel nothing but grateful satisfaction and happiness at his position, but a sweep ago he had nothing but sand and surf and abalone.

So when Her Imperiousness took his lusus, and put a castellan in its stead and turned shipwreck into keep he said thank you. When his guardian was given to Gl’bgolyb, and his seashells crushed for jewels he didn’t cry. Not a tear. He thinks he looked the part but he didn’t have a mirror back then to be sure. Through the window of his new chamber by the sea he remembers that the cry of gulls greeted him in sweet chorus. In that first sweep, young as young, every crash of wave carried him on a lullaby not so different from grubhood. And were he to admit, on nights when shadows flickered or when the weight of empty smiles grew too great- it were lullaby still. He need only close his eyes.

Course, he didn't think closing his eyes would ever actually precede his ship falling apart tin and timbre and his head smacking into darkness.

Coming back to the truly disorientating present, Eridan had never had the displeasure of waking up in the ocean before. Sea born he may be but mad he is not- salt and silk do not by any imaginable means mix! He wasn’t out right floating in open water; but it was closer to the experience than the boy ever wanted. His body was mired in the sand of a beach like flotsam with his hands and legs partly buried, jetsam, the sea ebbing up and onto him. Calling him home with insistent fingers. But he had a home dammit, and this miserable lump of sand wasn't it!

While he could breathe under water fine Eridan found it did nothing to quell the sudden urge he had to throw up.

‘Seadweller, Seadweller- lungs for air and gills for sea, never should they meet, or misfortune on thee.’

Simple enough, that. And at the moment, this very unfortunate moment, it was the truest grub rhyme he’d ever heard. What started as a daze about ocean and Empress soon built into a very real tightness in Eridan’s chest. There was a rush and suddenly his nose and ears were filled with salted ice. Coughing and sputtering he turned sideways as best he could whilst expelling what he’d breathed in unconsciously. The sand cracked in great grainy fissures as he moved.

Getting up proved difficult. Between chocking and an unsuccessful attempt at pushing the soggy fringe of his hair out of his face- not to mention he couldn’t find his glasses, Eridan was well and truly miserable. He'd managed a halfhearted crawl forward before beaching himself into soft white sand. His nose was tickling and itching as he used the last of his energy to flip 'round to his back again. The sky was an irritated grey, sharp and expansive that stung his eyes and tightened the skin of his forehead.

Eridan's last thought before promptly 'passing the fuck out' was one along the lines of whether or not his boots were ruined.

They were really nice boots.

Please God, not the boots.

________________________________________

Someone was tugging...pulling his foot clean off!

Blearily Eridan opened his eyes in a flutter, they seemed to have gummed themselves shut during his 'nap'. There was a little regret mixed into this second waking, like a hangover, like if only this was all a dream and not some daymare given life. His face felt pinchy...

The sky did an angry slide as his leg was forcefully jerked once again. Fearing a beast or bandit seeing fit to finish the ocean's job, Eridan shakily propped himself on his forearms in an effort to resist and breathed in...

only to have the shout he'd aimed at his assailant come out more like a panicked half squawk than anything.

The abrupt noise seemed to surprise whatever was trying to take his leg off at the ankle though and ended a particularly harsh pull in retreat. Which was great, but also kind of not because now that the boys foot was released he could make out a distinctly new and soggycold feeling in his extremities. A troll entered Eridan's vision then, of that he was now sure, shadowed by the sky like some looming giant. An undignified yelp left his lips before he could quell it and the figure made an alarmed step back out of sight. Pirate! Bandit! Why couldn't it have been a stupid bird? He didn't want to die! Hurriedly rising now, or trying to, the boy prince rushed to his feet and grabbed for a dagger that wasn't there.

Disheartened, he looked up after an embarrassingly shaky start; readying himself for a snarl and furious fisticuffs. Or see, that's what would have happened had Eridan not come up rather short.

Because well...this troll was really short!

A boy, truly, was in front of him. Wide eyed and crouched, his arm raised and brandishing a bleach white sickle like it was the sword to his execution. His horns were lowered and a buzzing noise vibrated in the air, it took only a moment for Eridan to recognize the sound that only the truly young or desperate made. He was small, compact and tiny- wrapped in netting and cloth like a gift and sporting the nubbiest horns ever to be displayed in the history of trollkind. Eridan had been afraid of this? This, this boy? Something in his brain was definitely waterlogged...because this was the most beautiful troll he'd ever seen. Even though he really wasn't- he really was.

There was a static in his veins, and he was about to ask him where he was. Did he know what happened, could he help, what was his name? Except it didn't get much farther than a vague thought, a question unasked- filed to the back of his attention. Because the world had stopped still in silent celebration. Something unspoken and unknown bubbled forth, like treasure forgotten and uncovered, and Eridan's heart solidified into a single serendipitous moment of clarity. Had he but grasped the notion in that moment the next few days would have gone a lot smoother. The next few sweeps. He would have been fuller. The Gods would have laughed less. But sometimes it takes the mind longer to realize what the heart feels.

Because love is something that takes time to happen and only an instant to occur.

Eridan's eyes seemed to of missed something in the first panicked run through. Something he was now rapidly closing in on. This steadily unnerved, beautifulcuteperfect stranger had his boots. In the hand of said stranger. Totally touching them. Serendipity was in a boxing match against a pair of footwear and losing badly.

Everything came back in a rush of sound and briny air and grainy texture.

"Hey! Those are mine!"

Eridan made to grab for them but whatever small measure of uncertainty nubby was feeling seemed to of snapped back into clarity like a mediterror setting bone. He'd barely moved when the little troll had bent back in a race of movement and blurred rags. Maybe grey was in this year, because before he knew it the world was swirling steel again. When the sky stopped looking like a gaper and more like, well, a sky, Eridan became aware of himself cushioned back into an indent of sand. He could see the dark shape of what he presumed to be the troll to his left and tried to rally himself back into action. But the thing was, his eyes were shutting of their own accord- he was just so tired.

Shipwrecked, no idea where he was, and swiftly losing interested in reality Eridan had but one last important thought. For all his aches and troubles and spurned fate, at this very moment the only thing Eridan could think was that he’d just been beaned in the head with his own boot.

That was his last thought, of which he seemed be having a lot of today like what even- he had literally just been hit in the head with his own boot. There was a charcoal smear of movement and then Eridan's eyes shut for good and the waves that called sang to him lulled him back into unconsciousness.

'Come home love, come home.'

________________________________________

He had him on the ground tied up like a sack of starches. It was equal parts uncomfortable and humiliating. The sand was scratchy. Eridan was hungry. There was a terrible pinching pain all over his skin from a horrendous sunburn he just knew he had. And most importantly of all...this feral dwarf had no respect for authority!

"Hey! Hey let me go, I am royalty! Do you know what that up and means?"

No answer. Said troll impudently had his back to him; he looked to be doing something but Eridan couldn't tell what it was- he continued on regardless.

"It means that I am your fated better, you ill natured goblin, and I should be wholly treated as such!

Not even a twitch. The more Eridan wriggled around the more sand he got in places he'd rather not think about. It was hard, trying not to think about it, hard and no one understood. Least of all his host. "Can you at least turn around an look at me? We're both trolls here, albeit one is more handsome than the other, but both trolls. Doesn't that warrant some level of civility? No? Okay then." Like an urchin to the foot, this series of very unfortunate events was uncalled for and thoroughly painful in bearing.

It was starting to get dark, really dark.

"Okay champ, look- keep me tied up. Howa' bout instead you just take me to wherever you're staying for the night, that sound good? Everybody wins!" His neck was starting to hurt from looking up. Nubby made a short huffing noise but otherwise kept on keeping on with his super important business. Not like Eridan was trying to be generous or anything.

"Being cute does not excuse bad manners! I mean, you're not actually cute! You're ugly and short and have bad manners! You are a trifecta of shitty genetics." He burst out which received a snort instead of silence, he must be moving up in the ladder of communication. Just great. He was getting nervous.

Usually the moons, Jade and Rose stood vigil in the night, ever shinning and bright over the trolls who went about their lives. But things had been changing lately, a witching hour had begun to move into the wild places where trolls were few. Sometimes where trolls were many. At first it was just rumor, and then it was just fear, but now it is reality. The nobles of the cities bragged safety, and flaunted it from their high towers above the populace, but even they were taking precautions. An increase in torches, locks, and guards. The prince knew they were just as afraid. And so Eridan began to sincerely curse his bad luck. Worse luck? Whatever. Because some nights the moons set and the sun didn't rise with their departure. The sky was already turning a darker shade of black; soon the world would be a place absent of shadows because there would be no light to cast them. Trolls were naturally nocturnal of course, but even they couldn't navigate what was slowly creeping into place, nor would they want to. It was Alternia's descent into darkness, true darkness- an evernight where only nothing could exist. Nothing is frightening, it's when the true monsters come out and nightmares root. Terrors, horror terrors that had crawled from the depths of the sea.

Damn the sun! It might herald a long sizzling slow death by exposure but he'd take that over what was to come any day. Plant walkers were easy to dispose of and slow to return, the daylight's dangers known and dealt with. What truly frightened him and many others were the things that rose in the dark. For the night is dark and full of terrors- for fuckin' real!

"Can you even talk?" Eridan was really hoping for a reaction this time, hopeful in a desperate sort of way.

The little troll's efforts seemed to of paid off as a slight 'whoosh' played out and a crackle sounded. A soft light played and bathed against the dunes, dipping and disappearing. He'd made a fire.

"Yes." It was said roughly, like the voice was unsure and unused to to even the simplest of syllables.

So startled was he by the response that Eridan didn't even think to struggle as the boy drug him close to lie by the makeshift pit. The warmth was pleasing, even if it would likely do nothing when the night swallowed them whole. Spurred into speaking Eridan could only exclaim in a manic excitement.

"So you can talk! I was beginning to think yo- wait, w-where are you going?" Nubby had gotten up, swiped the sand from his backside and looked like he was made to be off. At Eridan's protestations he turned round to growl out four stilted words of utter severity.

"Stay. Maybe alive later." What? In utter horror Eridan realized the troll meant to leave him behind.

"Maybe?! You can't just leave me! Do you have any idea what could happen to me out here? I know we're a ruthless race but glubbin' hell! "

"Yes."

"What? Yes to what? Yes to leaving me here to die? Yes to knowing what could happen? Yes that you are a thoroughly merciless individual with no pity in your shame sacks?" Eridan cried out exasperated. The wonders of conversation, though he never thought it would be so, were beginning to grate.

"Yes leave." The little shit actually had the gall to grin at that one. "Maybe come later. We see." And with that the little rag tag troll was on his way, never heeding Eridan's ever increasing shouts of fear to return.

Once he'd calmed down enough to quiet Eridan was at a loss. He may have spent a few moments breathing heavily and with abandon. The moons had almost fully set, the world hiding away. Normally there'd be insects chirping to serenade the air but not tonight. The beach had gone quiet. Eridan couldn't help the involuntary shudder that had nothing to do with damp clothing and everything to do with fear.

He wriggled as close to the flames as he dared without actually setting himself on afire. His back was searing hot and his front and stomach full of wet stones.

"I can't possibly die out here in the middle of nowhere, I am statistically up and done with the probability of these situations. You hear me you fated fucks? I'm not gonna die out here!" If he'd had a fist to shake, he would have shaken it. As it was otherwise indisposed though Eridan settled for a most righteous glare at the sky. He didn't get anything for his trouble but watering eyes and a dry mouth but who knew! Maybe if he glared hard enough his bonds would split and he'd be free to run off into the night. Wiser but better. Glubbin' right...

The later it got the more Eridan thoughtfully considered the possibility of rolling into his little beacon. Combustion might not be so bad...it might be faster.

Somewhere across the dunes something shrieked. An answering 'whoop' followed, wholly unnatural and echoing. Eridan could only whimper and curl into himself as the dark closed in.

________________________________________

When morning came all Eridan wanted to do was shout in strained victory, as loud and as long as his manic stressed lungs were able.

The sky didn't seem to have any settings other than overcast but that was fine. Fintastic even! It would be a most accurate statement to say that Eridan was 'not as fucked as he thought' but still a very special 'kind of fucked'. Through very understandable circumstances he hadn't slept a fuckin' wink in the past day or so. Passing out did not count! His time was so off that his biology was throwing a fit. The bags under his eyes would a need a week of care! His skin would never recover!

He kept waking up when he should be asleep and was comatose for the rest. Except for yesterday. Eridan would have paid in blood to be conked out for that hell fest. He was alive but wasn't sure how many years he had left in him on account of his heart beating out his fucking chest. Nubby had left a pile of wood for him to use. He hadn't noticed it at first on account of his panic but rest assured, found it was! With some desperate finagling and a truly comical version of the 'worm', Eridan had managed to keep the fire going through the night.

Miraculously it seemed to have kept the terrors at bay, though he wasn't keen on testing it's effectiveness again. His little spit of light had done nothing to alleviate the feel of the many hungry eyes he just knew had been watching him, waiting for his haven to sputter out. It was bad enough he had to listen to their shrieking all night, like every holler was the herald to his demise. The pale light of morning, glaring as it was, had never been more welcome.

Honestly, as much as the word pained him...it was a miracle he wasn't dead or almost. He felt dirty for using it even in thought. The mirthful's would never let him live it down, the Empress would disown him.

He couldn't seem to fall asleep, his body crying out in a weird display of useless energy. His skin was really starting to hurt. Eridan was tiredly blinking at the lingering embers of his savior when his captor returned like the stunted messiah he was. Other than move his head a bit Eridan didn't bother to readjust.

"Do you even sleep? You're a freak of nature if daytime is your preferred setting- you know that right? You should probably get checked. Sounds like a condition."

"Ah, still alive. Good...maybe?" The guttersnipe had the nerve to quirks his lips at the end.

"No thanks to you."

"All thanks to me." Nubby gestured towards the remnants of his creation with a cocky sort of seriousness. Eridan had enough energy to sneer.

"No, not even close champ."

"Yes, close very."

"No, miles long. No help." Eridan tried to put as much derision into the shunted words as he could. He may be a prisoner but he would not be quiet about it! The affronted look the other boy gave him was reward enough. It was oddly satisfying. He couldn't remember the last time he was able to just talk, stupid or no. That he let himself even more surprising. There was no place but for the most perfect expressions at court. Nubby looked to be batting around the same now that Eridan could really see his face. Snippy, although his maturity and actual intelligence were another question all together.

"I help...you stupid dumb!"The boy really was starting to look affronted. Good!

"Woah, no need to be nasty. But help? I can't seem to recall, was it hiding? Is it here? Nope." There was a little pop of the syllables at the end of that one. "Well geez, it just didn't show up."

"YES HELP." He stamped his foot. The other troll's face was scrunched up angrily, his nose a button and his eyebrows making a bushy migration. He had freckles all over his face like stars.

"What are you, a wriggler? You talk like one so maybe you are- hey!" The fucker had just kicked sand at him. "Oh yeah, real mature- what else you gonna do? Shit yourself? I hear that's popular with the sweep and under."

"Maybe will."

"You just do that."

"Maybe will at you!"

Silence. There was a brief standoff of ridiculous eyeballing dimensions.

"...you wouldn't dare." But he wasn't feeling very sure and it must have shown on his face because the boy gave a self satisfied smile and sat down across from him. This was the most the other had spoken since their most un-fortune meeting and it was odd. Because Eridan was a prisoner having a semi civil conversation with a savage. Because it felt like he'd known him all his life.

The fire was only ashes and hope by now. Eridan hadn't noticed before but the other troll had brought a makeshift sack with him this time. Much like everything the little troll had on him it was made up from pieces of rags, netting, and fishing line. He was quickly pulling what looked to be green strips tied by grass and a smaller wrapped bag of...shells? Once everything had been set out the boy put his head over the pieces and his hands to work. It was difficult to say what he was working on from Eridan's position on the ground and he didn't much try to figure it out. He was curious but he didn't think it'd kill him. He didn't think.

"What are you doing?" The other just grunted. Whatever. Eridan figured he'd find out soon. He was so tired that he sort of just flopped out as much as possible and closed his eyes to the glare. At least it wasn't the sun season. His wrists and ankles ached from the braided rope and there was a distinct numbness that came only from constricted movement after a long amount of time. The air was salty and sharp, and everything coming in through his ears was muffled by a distant roar. Occasionally Eridan would hear something from the troll across him but otherwise the world continued to turn on a sleepy axis. Despite being shipwrecked, kidnapped and without sleep it was surprisingly easy to just lie back and breathe. Maybe it was the exaustion, maybe he had finally gone mad but in this strange moment of stillness Eridan realized something. Something impossible to know or recognize in the din of day to day life.

He hadn't been this peaceful in a long time.

Comfortable, yes, but it was always backed by something heavy. Like an inhale that never fully got to exhale back out. With station came duty, and with duty came scrutiny and responsibilities as many as the night was long. One had to fulfill a certain obligation of personality- something if done wrong did not just end in a demotion. He may not yet be ascended, still a boy, but he knew there were those that wanted him gone. Trolls jealous of him!

Something brushed his face.

At first all Eridan could see was a blurry sort of moss, fuzzy and formless. His eyes focused and on closer inspection it looked to be folded bites of seaweed, dried. What he thought were shells turned out to be bugs, sand crickets to be exact and their legs poked from the small openings of the squares like little sticks. It reminded him of when he was young...er.

Eridan knew what they were. It would be hard not to. He was getting a pretty good look at it since the now much closer troll was waving them in his face. Sort of like a smelly flag.

"Okay, okay. Maybe we got off on the wrong foot ya? Let's just start over, preferably with my hands untied but- hey!" The shaggy kid had stuffed it into his mouth, and Eridan, not realizing quite how hungry he had been, ate it. And then another, and another until the other looked satisfied and the prince no longer felt compelled to eat his own stomach. "Alright" he started, "I appreciate it, thank you for the bugs but I'm done now. Anyway, let's start over." Maybe if the other thought they were friends Eridan could escape. The other boy was staring at him like he was dumb. The seaborn pushed through the judgement with a grimacing smile.

"Hi, my name's Eridan Ampora, first in line to the Violet Isles, heir of the great Orphaner Dualscar and soon to be general of the Empress armada. You should fall the your face with gratitude we are even talking, you and I. Now that you know of my import, please tell me. Who are you?" He sounded like a traveling merchant, Eridan thought in dim horror, he was just missing the spiel about bulge warts and an uncomfortable matesprit. Doggedly he continued.

"I'd shake your hand but mine seems to be...all tied up. If only someone could help me." God it was getting worse. Luckily the other didn't seem to notice, or care as he was too busy scrutinizing Eridan's face. For what? What was he looking for? The mysteries of the universe? Was his face that burnt? Was it peeling? Was there a bug on his mug?

"There ain't like, a bug on my face is there?" The thought was gaining in importance. "Cause man, you gotta' help me out if there is. I know I'm your hostage and all but these are common basic court-"

"...Eridan?"

"-esies."

It came out slow and clumsy, like a wriggler first steps- but purposeful.

"Uh, yeah. That's my name". He blinked a little, eyes wide.

"Karkat." He motioned to himself. "My name."

Past the stumbling words the boy with the stars for freckles seemed naively sincere. It made Eridan once again feel something uncomfortable that he couldn't name, like he'd been given a gift he might not be able to take care of. He'd heard read that in the past names were like treasures, like little stones cradled in the palm of the hand.

"Hello Karkat." He said, and the other beamed down at him a little before shuffling it away behind his eyes.

Perhaps this was the start of something new altogether.

**Author's Note:**

> First fic; it is unbeta'd but I figure'd I'd give this monster a shot. This chapter is by no means finished, and is in fact supposed to be much longer so sorry if the end in content is abrupt! It's just all I have right now, the whole thing is still very much a work in progress.


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